HOCKEY

HOCKEY;It Takes Six Months For Red Wings to Win

By ALEX YANNIS

Published: December 16, 1995

DETROIT, Dec. 16—
The Devils and the Red Wings have been headed in different directions since New Jersey's four-game sweep of Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals last June. Detroit's 3-1 triumph at Joe Louis Arena tonight confirmed the notion that the Devils are still far from the team they were last spring.

Though the Red Wings, who lead the Western Conference with a record of 21-7-2, had more to prove, the Devils had just as much to prove to themselves.

A losing record (13-15-3) and just one victory in six games were not the kind of numbers the defending Stanley Cup champions wanted next to their name at this point in the season.

"We're going through a bad stretch right now," said John MacLean, who scored the Devils' lone goal. "We're playing well defensively, but we have some trouble with our offense."

Scoring has indeed been the biggest problem for the Devils, who have scored more than four goals only once this season and have scored just one goal in eight of their losses.

Bob Errey's two goals, including an empty-netter with 3.9 seconds left, led the Red Wings. Nicklas Lidstrom scored the first goal for the Red Wings against Martin Brodeur, who faced 30 shots.

The Red Wings dominated the majority of the game. They scored the first two goals before the game was 11 minutes 5 seconds old, but MacLean narrowed the gap for the Devils with his fourth goal in the last three games, beating Mike Vernon with a wrist shot from the left circle 41 seconds after Detroit's second goal.

It was the only time the Devils managed to get a puck behind Vernon, who faced only 19 shots as the Red Wings posted their 10th consecutive victory at home and their 16th in the last 18 games over all.

Lidstrom's blistering shot from the right point, 6:50 into the game, beat Brodeur to the lower left corner for his seventh of the season after a pass by Paul Coffey from the other point during Detroit's first manpower advantage.

Coffey's assist was No. 1,001 of his career. Coffey became the fourth player -- and first defenseman -- in the history of the league to reach the milestone of 1,000 assists in the victory over Chicago here two nights ago. Coffey is the league's career leader among defensemen in goals, assists and points.

Errey scored his first goal when he jumped on a rebound from a shot by Steve Yzerman and eluded Brodeur with a move from right to left for his fifth of the season.

The Devils were presented with a good opportunity at the start of the second period when they had a two-man advantage for 70 seconds, but they came up empty. That advantage was shortened when Valery Zelepukin interfered with Coffey, one of many times the Devils lacked discipline.

The Devils had a slight territorial advantage in the second period, but they failed to capitalize. Just when it looked as if they would gather momentum, a minor penalty here and another there interrupted any notions of a sustained attack.

"Don't talk to me about that," Coach Jacques Lemaire said about the penalties the Devils took at critical times. "Incredible. You try to get the guys on the ice going and somebody takes a penalty. We have to stop this very soon."

Photo: Keith Primeau of the Red Wings losing his balance after beingchecked by the Devils' Scott Niedermayer. (Associated Press)